The last year has seen UK motorists limited to making essential journeys only. Even then they have to limit their miles and stay close to home . It has resulted in many drivers clocking up substantially fewer miles behind the wheel.

The lack of practise means one thing; forgotten driving skills. As the old sayings go, ‘practice makes perfect’ and ‘use it or lose it’.

Revealing road realities

A new survey of motorists by Young Driver asked drivers what were their chief concerns were about getting back behind the wheel.

While 12% of men and 6% of women think they are a perfect driver, many were quick to admit problems with parking. However, this wasn’t just a result of lockdowns.

Others felt they now suffered a lack of both patience and confidence. The stresses surrounding Coronavirus have undoubtedly affected all areas of our life. Meanwhile, lack of practise and interacting outside your immediate family serves an inherent blow to a belief in your own abilities.

Women were more likely to doubt their parking skills than men. However, they are more likely to want to work on improving confidence.

Parking also takes the the top two spots for men. However, they were more likely than women to also want to work on reducing their speed and remembering to indicate.

Becoming more patient ranked highly for all motorists.

The results are in

  • The top seven motoring skills men would like to improve in 2021:
  1. Reverse parking (30%)
  2. Parallel parking (30%)
  3. Being more patient behind the wheel (17%)
  4. To drive in a more environmentally friendly way (13%)
  5. Always remembering to indicate (13%)
  6. Always checking blind spots (12%)
  7. Reducing my speed (11%)
  • The top seven motoring skills women would like to improve in 2021:
  1. Parallel parking (39%)
  2. Reverse parking (32%)
  3. Overcoming nervousness of driving on a motorway (20%)
  4. To be more confident behind the wheel (18%)
  5. Being more patient behind the wheel (14%)
  6. Always checking blind spots (12%)
  7. To drive in a more environmentally friendly way (12%)

Food for thought if you are thinking about refresher or advanced driving lessons in the post lockdown world, possibly.